- Paperback: 74 pages
- Publisher: Broadway Play Pub (Jun 30 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0881452262
- ISBN-13: 978-0881452266
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.5 x 0.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 159 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #721,193 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
Hailed upon its publication as "a classic for readers not yet born" (Philadelphia Inquirer), Birdy is an inventive, hypnotic novel about friendship and family, dreaming and surviving, love and war, madness and beauty, and, above all, "birdness." It tells the story of Al, a bold, hot-tempered boy whose goals in life are to life weights and pick up girls, and his strange friend Birdy, the skinny, tongue-tied perhaps genius who only wants to raise canaries and to fly. While fighting in World War II, they find their dreams become all too real—and their lives are changed forever.
In Birdy, William Wharton crafts an unforgettable tale that suggests another notion of sanity in a world that is manifestly insane. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
In Birdy, William Wharton crafts an unforgettable tale that suggests another notion of sanity in a world that is manifestly insane. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Ingram
The critically acclaimed Birdy is an inventive, hypnotic novel about friendship and family, love and war, madness and beauty, and, above all, "birdness." Wharton crafts an unforgettable tale--one that suggests a notion of sanity in a world that is manifestly insane. Reissue.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting book,
By A Customer
This review is from: Birdy (Paperback)
The book is best described as "bird-y", like it's title. Whoever reads it will understand what I mean. In the center of the story stands an eccentric, introverted boy called Birdy, who's entire life is driven by an obsession with birds, and a dream - to fly and be free. The book opens with Birdy in a military mental hospital, traumatized by his experiences in WWII. His childhood friend, Al, has been called over to try and bring Birdy back to reality. At a loss of what to do, Al begins telling Birdy stories from their childhood, and recounting all the adventures they lived through together. Through Al's narrations and the remembrances they trigger in Birdy, the fascinating story of a most unlikely friendship unfolds. Al is a handsome, athletic Italian girl-chaser, with an abusive father and an obsessive need to prove himself. Birdy on the other hand, is a wild spirit. You can sense throughout the story how he feels caged, and reveres the birds he sees to be free. He constucts an aviary and raises canaries in his bedroom, studying them, learning their language, getting to know each one personally, and losing himself in their world. The descriptions of the canaries are so intense that the reader himself feels as though they are human, or he is a bird. Birdy is an amazing character - brave, self confident, a mechanical genius, who struggles to fit himself into human life, but who's mind works in a completely different way than anyone else's. The book tells the extraordinary story of the two friends, and is simply a pleasure to read and a refreshing change from the conventional.
5.0 out of 5 stars
I loved this book... so unique,
By Vaughan (Beppu-Shi, Oita-Ken Japan) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Birdy (Paperback)
Thats right. One of the best books I have ever read. I have already purchased some 5 copies for my friends - to share the beauty of the book with them too. Its a masterpiece.The depth of description about a bird, and its daily life, is described here in a way I have come across before. But thats not what its all about. There are many concepts discovered here, and it makes the reader ponder. Issues such as war, friendship, love, dreams, insanity and sanity. I especially got involved in Birdy's dream. I am a bit of a dreamer too. He goes onto explore the fact that maybe we living now, is a dream. And the dream that both you and I will have tonight, is actually our real life. I liked this view. Buy the book, its very much out of the ordinary, and I hope you really enjoy it as much as I did! Happy Reading!
5.0 out of 5 stars
If any book lingers in your mind its this one.,
By Zanara (Hell.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Birdy (Paperback)
I just happened upon this book in my school's library one day last week. I decided to get it out if only because my own facination with flight seemed somewhat similar to the storyline. I read the whole thing that day, and I still can't get it out of my mind. I went back to the library maybe hoping for a sequel (I always do that), but since there was none I got out the only other Wharton books they had: Dad and A Midnight Clear. While they were both great books and I enjoyed them greatly (even though I'm usually a strictly scifi fan and this really far from my range), none of them are even half as good as Birdy. Theres something about that book that makes you think about it long after you've turned the last page. Now I need to get the movie.
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